Dreaming Of The Sand
by The Cat's Paw
Summary: The Fourth Shinobi war took a lot from everyone, but to one person, it gave back. What will Sakura do when she comes across Gaara in his element, with Shukaku returned to him? Will the demon destroy her, or can she save him from his madness? GaaSaku.


**So… I've been reading a lot of Naruto fics, GaaSaku, ItaSaku, NejiSaku, trying to get back in the mood for Naruto stuff. Been looking through my fics, too, having a few ideas here and there, going over posted, completed and unwritten ones. Then I decided that I was going to rewrite this, mostly since I've always been disappointed with the original. Also, because I got a bit inspired thinking about Deviantart, where sometimes artists follow some challenge to 'draw this again' with one of their old art pieces. I thought, why not do that with one of my old Naruto fics? I think it would help me get back in the saddle for them.**

 **Anyway, this here's a rewrite of Dreams Of Sand, renamed for the redo. I want more detail in it, and I'm not going to rush it the way I did the other one. I think that's a big part of its disappointment, because back then, I was rushing through stories, which is why they ended up crap or incomplete. Well, one of the reasons. :(**

 **Ok, so I'm not actually caught up completely on Shippuden, though I've a basic gist of what happened. I was devastated when Neji died, and angry when Kishimoto canonised SasuSaku. It made me almost hate the thought of going back to it, but I think I've mostly gotten over it. Now, though, I've got a renewed interest in it. Anyway, I apologise for the long author note, so let's just get into it, shall we?**

 **Disclaimer that I don't own Naruto, and anything you find that's not canon, is AU.**

 _ **Dreaming Of The Sand**_

 **Chapter One**

The village of Konohagakure was unusually subdued this late afternoon. There was no real reason for it, it was just one of those rare days where people slowed down. It was almost like indolence, really, so it was more than likely that Shikamaru was loving it. If he was even awake, that is. A day like this was perfect for having a lie-in, though anyone who was still asleep at this time of day (Shikamaru excluded) had some serious problems.

A pink haired kunoichi was sat upon a swing-seat on a small balcony overlooking a heavy residential area, sighing. In her hands was a mission scroll, delivered to her a few hours ago by an ANBU. In it was a detailed description of her next mission, which she was to head out on the following day. Sakura was to head out to Sunagakure to update the medics there on the research she'd been doing recently into the mental issues ninja faced on a daily basis. She already had her research notes and such packed, so she was ready to go as soon as she got up tomorrow.

Ever since the war had ended, she'd taken a fascination for the mental health side of healing. Her own personal experiences were enough to occasionally give her nightmares, and she knew a lot of her friends also suffered from them. That had led her deeper into the subject, to things including PTSD, depression, and schizophrenia, among other things. There wasn't a whole lot of research done into it, mostly because of the nature of the work they did as ninja. Who really could they talk to about it all? There weren't a lot of medics with experience in this field, a fact she intended to change.

Her own issues with borderline bipolar, thanks to her Inner Sakura, had given her an even more unique perspective into her research.

In any case, Sakura'd recently written a paper on her research, and she was going to be going to Suna to give some lectures. It was mostly due to their alliance that she was doing this, the two villages had signed an agreement long ago to share medical knowledge, among other things. That was back when Tsunade-shishou was still Hokage, and Gaara-sama was still Kazekage. Her shishou had officially handed the reigns over to Kakashi-sensei (who refused for his old students to call him Hokage-sama), and was now running the hospital. As for Gaara-sama…

Back in the midst of the Fourth Shinobi War, the tailed beasts that the Akatsuki had captured had been released, vanishing off into the ether. All except the nine and eight tails, and the one tail as well. With Naruto and Killer B, it was easy to understand why, but Gaara? Shukaku had been extracted from him long ago, but apparently the fact that he was still alive, while the other jinchuuriki were all dead, made it possible for the Ichibi to return to its former host.

The only thing was, the process had driven Gaara mad and he'd fled into the desert, never to be seen again.

Well, not entirely. Sakura knew from things she'd heard from Kakashi-sensei and even Naruto that there were occasional sightings of the former Kazekage. No one had been able to get close to him, though. A sigh, and Sakura decided that she needed to get her mind off of maudlin things, so she headed inside to lock up, and went off in search of Ino. Maybe the two of them could go get drinks, or something, before Sakura headed off in the morning?

The walk to Ino's place wouldn't take long, but she wasn't going to her friend's childhood home anymore. Ino had moved out less than a year ago, though she still lived in the same neighbourhood that she'd grown up in, still surrounded by her clan. Having her own space gave her the freedom to have her 'boyfriend' over whenever she wanted, and the blonde loved going over in detail with Sakura about what they got up to, whether the pinkette wanted to hear it or not. Sai was, after all, her former team mate and her friend, and thinking about him doing that sort of thing with Ino was… yuck!

She was happy for them though, she supposed. But it really hit home with her that she didn't have anyone. She did once, but not anymore. Sakura had been involved with someone once, before and during the war, until he'd died defending his loved ones. She and Neji had officially been a couple, with every intention of it one day moving onto something much more serious. She'd been inconsolable for days when Hinata had tentatively informed her that Neji had bought a ring and wanted to propose after the war was over and done with.

That had been four years ago now, and she had moved on. Mostly. Nowadays, she spent her time alternating between the hospital, training, and staying connected with her friends. Missions didn't come along often for her, the one she was headed out on being the first in a few months.

Naruto went on a lot of missions, some the usual sort with a jounin squad, some diplomatic as he studied and learned what it truly meant for him to be the next Hokage. Sasuke was ANBU now, and often out on his own missions, hardly in Konoha anymore. His last one had started five or six months ago, and he wasn't due back for at least another three. Sasuke had wanted to start something romantic with her when he came back, but Sakura was still grieving at that point, and quite honestly, she hadn't viewed him in a romantic light for ages.

Suddenly Sakura realised that she'd made it to Ino's and she knocked on the door, which opened almost immediately. "Sakura!" Ino exclaimed, a big smile on her face. "What are you doing here? Come in, come in!"

"I wanted to see if you wanted to go out for drinks tonight," Sakura said. "I'm heading out to Suna for a mission tomorrow, and wanted to catch up before I left."

"A mission?" Ino asked, interest piqued. "What'll you be doing?"

"Giving lectures at the hospital there about my latest research," Sakura said, and Ino nodded eagerly. "I've still got copies of the ones I did up for the medical conference here a week and a half ago, so I'll be using those. There were a few Suna medics there, but I guess they want to know more. You know we've got that agreement with them about medical research."

"It goes both ways, doesn't it?" Ino asked, and Sakura nodded. "Well, make sure to check up on them and make sure that they're actually keeping that up. Temari should be able to help, Kankurou too, since they're both joint Kazekage."

That had happened straight after Gaara's disappearance. Though Temari spent a lot of time here in Konoha, due to her relationship with Shikamaru, she still had a hand in running her home village. It was quite likely that she was going to make a permanent move here to Konoha soon though, and leave Kankurou completely in charge. The only thing holding her back, Sakura knew, was the fact that she wanted to find Gaara and bring him home.

Sakura and Ino headed out then, having a light dinner at a nice open café, then having drinks at their favourite bar. Sakura knew Sai was out on a mission right now, so she knew her friend also appreciated the company. When they headed to their respective homes, Sakura felt much better than she had earlier and when her head hit the pillow, she was looking forward to her mission a bit more than before.

OoOoO

Waiting at the gates for her was her escort. Unless it was specified otherwise, all missions were to have at least three members on the team, just in case they ran into any trouble. It may be a time of general peace between the nations, but there were still dangers such as rogue nins out there. Sakura's team mates for this mission were Shino and Kiba, and naturally Akamaru. She met them at the gates at seven in the morning, and they were out of there only moments later.

"It's a great day for missions, huh, Akamaru?" Kiba said once they'd been travelling for an hour or so. "Clear, blue sky, nothing stressful happening on the mission..."

"The weather forecast said there was a chance of rain later," Shino interrupted. "And there's been reports of rogue nins near the border of River."

"...Yup," Kiba said. "A beautiful day, with nothing to go wrong."

Sakura chuckled at their banter, feeling relaxed and happy. Akamaru barked happily at her, and Kiba grinned. Shino just rolled his eyes as they continued along their route. It took three days to reach Suna, the first one ending not quite at the River border. The second would be just at the border between River and Wind, then that last day would be spent reaching Suna. Generally, a guide was sent ahead for missions to get people on official business through the desert. Hopefully Kakashi-sensei had actually remembered to send a messenger hawk this time.

 _Unlike_ the last time Sakura'd gone there, a little over a year ago. She'd almost gotten lost! It was lucky that a scout party had found her, otherwise she would never have been able to give Kakashi-sensei an earful when she'd returned to the Leaf.

When they set up camp that night, the rain that Shino'd predicted had sprinkled down lightly, causing Kiba to glare at him like it was his fault. The next morning it had cleared though, and their trip through River country was uneventful. They'd bunkered down at the border post, where a Suna ninja was indeed waiting for them, thank kami, and the next morning, four ninja and one nin-ken headed out into the desert.

"What's the forecast?" Sakura asked their guide, Shinji.

"There are some sand storms kicking up," the sand-nin told them. "Hopefully nothing we can't handle."

"Hopefully?" Kiba demanded, echoed by a bark from Akamaru. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"There have been an increasing number of sandstorms in the last four years," Shinji told them. "Most are standard fair for the desert, easily navigated by our own people. But some unusual ones have been appearing, and they have been wilder and far more erratic than any other storm."

"Then it's likely that it's Gaara-san causing them," Shino intoned wisely, and Shinji nodded.

"It's a two edged sword of sorts," he told them. "On the one hand, they are becoming a dangerous nuisance for missions, training, and any of the settlements too far out of reach in case of an emergency. But also on the other hand… There's some hope, because it means that Gaara-sama is still alive out there somewhere, even though we don't know what state he's in."

"I imagine that is one of the reasons why Temari-san is delaying moving permanently to Konoha," Sakura guessed, and Shinji nodded once more.

They travelled in mostly silence, with it only being broken every now and then when Kiba could no longer take the quiet. Much like Naruto, he couldn't bear silence, and tried several times to fill it with talking. He succeeded several times with Sakura, a few times with Shinji, and not once with Shino. Akamaru shared his partner's frustration at the quiet, letting out barks and yips just to annoy Shino.

Suddenly, though, Shinji barked out, "Stop!" and they were all silent and still. They all came to a complete halt, listening with their chakra and their senses, before Shinji yelled, "Follow me, and run for it!"

Sakura had no idea what was going on, at least not until a huge curtain of sand appeared. A sandstorm, then. And guessing from the way that Shinji was reacting, it was not a normal one. So did that mean that Gaara was nearby? It was quite possible. Since he seemed to be the source of these unusual storms, then it would stand to reason that he was actually rather close by. Sakura cast aside her thoughts and concentrated on following Shinji exactly. They were managing to stay ahead of the storm, she didn't want to miss a command from the expert.

Unfortunately, it seemed that concentrating on Shinji left her vulnerable to tripping on… _something…_ she had no idea what. Letting out a cry and falling forward onto her hands and knees, Sakura was instantly swallowed by the storm. Vaguely she could hear Shino, Kiba, and Shinji shouting for her, and Akamaru barking. But then everything vanished and she was left in a feeling similar to sensory deprivation as all she could see, hear, and feel was sand.

"Kiba!" she yelled. "Shino! Akamaru! Shinji!"

She was in trouble, she knew. Sakura had heard a few tales of people lost in the desert, never to be found again. That last time she was sure it had been about to happen to her, but now, there seemed to be no hope for her. As she stumbled blindly through the sand, she couldn't help but feel that this was it for her, that she _really was_ about to die. The sand was ferocious, tearing at her skin, leaving bruises and scrapes that she tried to keep at bay with her chakra.

Moving forward and losing her bearings was surely a bad idea, but the alternative was being buried alive in the sand. It was her only real option, on the off chance that she ran into something that could be used as shelter, as she had none with her. Kiba and Akamaru had been carrying most of their supplies, though Sakura had her own pack with everything she needed in it. Except shelter, of course.

It was also quite likely that she was moving towards her death.

Rather suddenly, the sand was gone, and she found herself standing at the edge of an oasis. The abrupt loss of the sound and sensation of the sandstorm rang through her ears as she realised that the oasis was encircled by the whole storm. With no other real option, Sakura moved forward carefully, keeping an eye out for whatever was in store for her.

 **So how was it? I'm hoping to keep the chapters about this length, but we'll see. In any case, don't forget to review, and I hope you liked it. ;)**


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